I would like to invite people for a open reflection on science fiction, especially today. Its only been a few hours since the death of our show. I created this thread so others can share their memories and thoughts, here are mine:
Today I experienced an expected and utterly unceremonious event. One that should have been fixed in my conscious for many years but now will likely slip in to memory. Not everyone will realise I admit, that today was an important day for me and many millions of people around the world. It was the death of a show, a series and a franchise that has given us 17 series, 3 movies and over 350 hours of entertainment. Today was the death of Stargate. Stargate Universe. Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG1 have had a run lasting nearly 15 years combined and today it all comes to an end. No more movies, no more spin off's, no more episodes.
This is not just a sad day for Stargate fans around the world. This should be a sad day for anyone who truly values science fiction as a genre. It doesn't matter if you loved stargaze or hated it. The fandom will continue. It will say its goodbyes and carry on discussing, dissecting, convening and exploring alternative avenues this wonderful universe that has been created. Stargate is one of the longest lasting, most enduring franchises there has been, it has survived virtually everything that has been thrown at it, from cancellations to reincarnations. But now it seems that wrestling, reality TV and schedule changes based on an outdated and pathetic ratings system can kill even the hardiest of our dwindling breed. The appetite for scifi if still there, but the message from networks to to cut everything that costs more than the advertisers will pay. Original scripted Scifi is one of those things. One of those expendable genres in the current climate that leaves me one massive question to my fellow fans and the reason I say this is such a sad day for all of us.
My question is what is left. This coming Friday, Smallville also ends. Then the two longest scifi series this generation has seen will be over. Doctor Who is facing an uncertain future, and Torchwood is on the ropes. Then let us consider all of the others we have lost, that have ended, that have been canned. The classics of this argument, Firefly, Buffy, Heroes, BSG, Lost, Charmed, 4400, Eureka, Stargate's older incarnations. I haven't even covered half of those that could be added to the list but I cant think of a show left that's worth watching. In the future will will the great classics and franchises come from, those moments of TV that captivated generations of kids, adults and teens, that brought them together around the world. Connected them. Science fiction is one of the few genres that is timeless, that will endure, and that we can always go back to and re-watch, again and again. Maybe our generations age of Scifi is over, and we have had a great run, Stargate had the best part of my lifetime to explore everything they could, and they still could do more. They were allowed to nurture and to grow in to something rare, something that will last.
But where will the next generation of Scifi come from?
On-line? Sorry but it hasn't worked yet. I have the painful memories of falling in love with a series striving to break the mould and make on-line TV production viable. But it couldn't, and now its actually the single show left which I can look forward too on whatever night "syfi" slot it in too. Sanctuary on TV is going great, but its still a betrayal, a return to a system that has killed dozens of TV shows and a genre I'm now eulogising. I hope that on-line might work, but I haven't found hope yet, and my heart got broken once so it will take a while.
Sadly I think it may take an even longer time for a climate to reappear in which great science fiction can be made again, a climate where original programming will be given the resources and the support to carve out its niches, engage its audience and evolve organically as a concept. I am fearful for a genre that I love, and that I have invested a huge portion of my life too, emotionally and intellectually. It has been something I have cherished and now feel like I've, piece by piece over the last few years and now today I think its finally time to say its over. For now its reruns and boxiest. The next generation of scifi we can only hope will get its time and find its place, because if it doesn't, then what we've lost may be all we will ever get. No more looking forward to autumn, no more cliffhangers, no more originality, no more agonising hiatus's, because fact is from now until the system changes, this genre is on hiatus. So RIP Scifi, I think it's going to be a long one.
Immhotep, Stargate fan forever, Stargate: genesis executive producer, Founder of the Gateworld Virtual fleets.
This is not just a sad day for Stargate fans around the world. This should be a sad day for anyone who truly values science fiction as a genre. It doesn't matter if you loved stargaze or hated it. The fandom will continue. It will say its goodbyes and carry on discussing, dissecting, convening and exploring alternative avenues this wonderful universe that has been created. Stargate is one of the longest lasting, most enduring franchises there has been, it has survived virtually everything that has been thrown at it, from cancellations to reincarnations. But now it seems that wrestling, reality TV and schedule changes based on an outdated and pathetic ratings system can kill even the hardiest of our dwindling breed. The appetite for scifi if still there, but the message from networks to to cut everything that costs more than the advertisers will pay. Original scripted Scifi is one of those things. One of those expendable genres in the current climate that leaves me one massive question to my fellow fans and the reason I say this is such a sad day for all of us.
My question is what is left. This coming Friday, Smallville also ends. Then the two longest scifi series this generation has seen will be over. Doctor Who is facing an uncertain future, and Torchwood is on the ropes. Then let us consider all of the others we have lost, that have ended, that have been canned. The classics of this argument, Firefly, Buffy, Heroes, BSG, Lost, Charmed, 4400, Eureka, Stargate's older incarnations. I haven't even covered half of those that could be added to the list but I cant think of a show left that's worth watching. In the future will will the great classics and franchises come from, those moments of TV that captivated generations of kids, adults and teens, that brought them together around the world. Connected them. Science fiction is one of the few genres that is timeless, that will endure, and that we can always go back to and re-watch, again and again. Maybe our generations age of Scifi is over, and we have had a great run, Stargate had the best part of my lifetime to explore everything they could, and they still could do more. They were allowed to nurture and to grow in to something rare, something that will last.
But where will the next generation of Scifi come from?
On-line? Sorry but it hasn't worked yet. I have the painful memories of falling in love with a series striving to break the mould and make on-line TV production viable. But it couldn't, and now its actually the single show left which I can look forward too on whatever night "syfi" slot it in too. Sanctuary on TV is going great, but its still a betrayal, a return to a system that has killed dozens of TV shows and a genre I'm now eulogising. I hope that on-line might work, but I haven't found hope yet, and my heart got broken once so it will take a while.
Sadly I think it may take an even longer time for a climate to reappear in which great science fiction can be made again, a climate where original programming will be given the resources and the support to carve out its niches, engage its audience and evolve organically as a concept. I am fearful for a genre that I love, and that I have invested a huge portion of my life too, emotionally and intellectually. It has been something I have cherished and now feel like I've, piece by piece over the last few years and now today I think its finally time to say its over. For now its reruns and boxiest. The next generation of scifi we can only hope will get its time and find its place, because if it doesn't, then what we've lost may be all we will ever get. No more looking forward to autumn, no more cliffhangers, no more originality, no more agonising hiatus's, because fact is from now until the system changes, this genre is on hiatus. So RIP Scifi, I think it's going to be a long one.
Immhotep, Stargate fan forever, Stargate: genesis executive producer, Founder of the Gateworld Virtual fleets.
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